Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

Chapter 326: Chapter 184: Blood Prison

Zhou Zhichao was the first to arrive, followed by Qin Ze and Liu Qian. The pair formally apologized for having kicked him out of the Alliance and presented him with gifts.

Xu Yang accepted with a smile, taking the gifts as well. What he would do in the future was a matter for another day.

After Qin Ze and Liu Qian left, Wang Ang came. While presenting a gift, he insisted that everything that happened before was Ma Jun’s fault and had nothing to do with him.

Yuan Sujie also came, representing the Yuan Family. She brought a Profound Yuan Qi Transformation Pill to congratulate him on taking third place in the Outer Sect Grand Competition.

Then came Ding Xu, who brought two Profound Yuan Qi Transformation Pills. He didn’t mention the Ding Family deliberately giving him the cold shoulder, but the intention to reconcile was obvious.

Xu Yang didn’t want to offend a major family like the Ding Family, so he smiled and told Ding Xu that he hadn’t taken it to heart.

In truth, he had used the Ding Family’s reputation to reject the advances of many other major families, so he really didn’t blame them.

Finally, an unexpected person arrived—Su Zhe.

To his surprise, he was also holding a gift box.

"Brother Xu, I was ignorant before and caused much offense. I hope you can forgive me. I heard that Brother Xu is fond of collecting Pure Yang Grass, so my family had me bring two stalks over to congratulate you on taking third place in the competition." Su Zhe respectfully handed over the gift box, a flash of humiliation in the depths of his eyes.

He naturally didn’t want to reconcile with Xu Yang, but it was an order from his father, Su Jianye, and one he had to obey.

If they didn’t first use such a method to resolve the enmity with Xu Yang and lull him into a false sense of security, the Su Family would have no opportunity to strike.

In the future, when they killed Xu Yang, no one would suspect the Su Family.

In the courtyard, everyone was dumbfounded.

Like Xu Yang, they had never expected Su Zhe to come and apologize.

"Brother Su, you’re too kind!"

Xu Yang’s eyes narrowed slightly. He took the box and opened it. Inside were indeed two stalks of Pure Yang Grass.

It was a grand gesture of sincerity, but Xu Yang’s senses were sharp; Su Zhe’s shift in emotion could not escape his perception.

However, he had no intention of truly burying the hatchet just because he took the gift. If the Su Family wanted to put on a grand show, he would play along.

"I’m glad Brother Xu likes it!" Seeing Xu Yang’s beaming face, Su Zhe cursed inwardly, ’What a country bumpkin, he’s never seen anything good. I can’t believe two useless stalks of Pure Yang Grass were enough to appease him. Father really is brilliant for lulling him into a false sense of security so quickly. Does he really think he can just bury the hatchet after offending my Su Family?’

Besides being used in Alchemy, Pure Yang Grass was only useful for cultivating Supreme Yang Techniques.

All of this was just for show. Whether Xu Yang accepted or not, they had at least made the gesture of apologizing.

"In that case, I won’t disturb you any longer, Brother Xu!"

Seeing that Xu Yang had accepted the gift, Su Zhe stood up and left.

"Be careful, Junior Brother Xu. I’m afraid they’re deliberately showing goodwill just to lower your guard."

Sun Tao warned him. He didn’t believe the Su Family truly wanted to bury the hatchet with Xu Yang. After all, Xu Yang had caused Su Zhe to lose all face; you could almost say he’d ruined him.

With a grudge that deep, Su Zhe showing up with a smile, a gift, and an apology was abnormal no matter how you looked at it.

Placing in the top three of the Outer Sect Grand Competition was impressive, but not *that* impressive.

The Su family had started this whole affair, clearly because they knew Xiao Chen’s death was related to Xu Yang.

Xu Yang smiled and nodded. "Don’t worry, Senior Brother. He brought me a treasure; I could hardly refuse it, right?"

’Two stalks of Pure Yang Grass might be worth less than three hundred taels to anyone else, but to me, they represent two whole batches of Gathering Essence Pills. How could I possibly turn them down?’

「Two days later, the Hidden Skills Hall.」

Placing third in the Outer Sect Grand Competition came with another reward besides exemption from assessment missions: the choice of any one cultivation technique from the Outer Sect’s Hidden Skills Hall.

Martial Techniques, Heart Methods, Secret Techniques—regardless of their contribution point value, any cultivation technique in the Hidden Skills Hall was fair game.

"Greetings, Steward Liu!" Xu Yang said with a smile, cupping his fist to Liu Jinghe, who was guarding the entrance.

"No need to be so polite. Once you enter the Inner Sect, we’ll be of the same generation."

Liu Jinghe smiled kindly. "I never expected you to make it this far. Go on in and choose for yourself. As for what you want, I doubt you need my guidance."

"It was just a stroke of luck."

After the polite exchange, he walked up to the second floor of the Hidden Skills Hall.

As for what to choose, he hadn’t actually decided yet.

When it came to Heart Methods, the Fuyue Bear Scripture was enough. After he comprehended his Martial Dao Imagery, the Fuyue Bear Scripture and the Fuyue Bear King’s Palm complemented each other, becoming even more profound.

Unless he could find a Heart Method far superior to the Fuyue Bear Scripture, it wouldn’t be wise to switch.

While the Outer Sect’s Hidden Skills Hall might have Heart Methods stronger than the Fuyue Bear Scripture, they weren’t significantly better, so switching was unnecessary.

Of course, he hadn’t ruled out switching Heart Methods entirely. He would look through everything first before making a decision. On his previous hasty visits, he hadn’t any contribution points, so he’d never gotten a good look at the hall’s collection.

’Thunder Sound Marrow Cleansing Technique, six hundred contribution points!’

He started by looking at the Heart Methods. It was only then that he discovered that, in addition to a main Heart Method, there were also Secret Techniques in the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm to aid with Marrow Cleansing.

The Thunder Sound Marrow Cleansing Technique was one such auxiliary method, capable of accelerating the Marrow Cleansing process.

The contribution points required for this auxiliary Secret Technique were actually higher than for the Fuyue Bear Scripture.

Xu Yang was tempted, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

’Golden Toad Marrow Cleansing Technique, five hundred contribution points!’

This was another auxiliary Marrow Cleansing secret technique, clearly less valuable than the Thunder Sound Marrow Cleansing Technique.

’Cyan Wood Technique Gang Qi Chapter, seven hundred contribution points!’

This was another technique that tempted him. It was the Heart Method for the Gang Qi Realm portion of Medicine King Peak’s Cyan Wood Technique.

This technique was the key to Medicine King Peak’s cultivation of Spirit Medicines. He had also heard that the Cyan Wood Technique had life-extending effects, allowing one to live for an extra ten to twenty years.

However, aside from the Cyan Wood Technique, he couldn’t find the Gang Qi Chapter of Tianquan Peak’s Purple Sun Scripture, nor Li Fire Peak’s Li Fire Technique.